E*Trade has such a great stock trading platform. Despite the relatively larger per-trade cost ($9.99 per trade unless you are a power trader), their desktop web-based platform does the job quite well. However, despite being with them for many years now, I find E*Trade is slipping and/or not keeping up. Here are my observations from the past year. Please take note that I do not have any experience using E*Trade on a mobile device other than the iPhone 4 and iPad. So I cannot comment on E*Trade's qualities on other mobile devices.
First, the iPad app does not have all of the features that are available on the iPhone. That is very, very odd. I know you can't display all the same things on the iPhone that you can on the iPad due to th larger iPad screen. But key capabilities are just missing. For example, on the iPad you can't do mobile deposits or barcode lookups like you can on the iPhone. The iPad has had a camera for some time now, and the app should have been updated for these capabilities sometime ago. Another thing - users of the iPad app can set the session timeout to a maximum of 30 minutes. On the iPhone it is 2 hours.
You can't see your trading cash balance on the iPad. You can see it on the iPhone. Yes, you can calculate it, and yes you should know it already. But, come on, just display on the positions screen.
You can't access banking on the iPad. At all.
First, the iPad app does not have all of the features that are available on the iPhone. That is very, very odd. I know you can't display all the same things on the iPhone that you can on the iPad due to th larger iPad screen. But key capabilities are just missing. For example, on the iPad you can't do mobile deposits or barcode lookups like you can on the iPhone. The iPad has had a camera for some time now, and the app should have been updated for these capabilities sometime ago. Another thing - users of the iPad app can set the session timeout to a maximum of 30 minutes. On the iPhone it is 2 hours.
You can't see your trading cash balance on the iPad. You can see it on the iPhone. Yes, you can calculate it, and yes you should know it already. But, come on, just display on the positions screen.
You can't access banking on the iPad. At all.
Mobile deposits are limited to checks at or less than $10,000. Perhaps it is a rarity that investors need to deposits checks greater than this. But I'm sure it happens, and you can't do it. This limit should be increased or (preferably) eliminated. I can understand keeping the amount of instantly-available cash low for mobile deposits until the check clears. However, there are not a lot of E*Trade banks/ATMs around, and we should not have to drive around to get to a reciprocating bank or mail checks anymore.
It would be nice to have bond search and trade features (either on the existing app or as a separate E*Trade bond trading app).
The one thing I have complained about in the past is now being adopted, and that is the use of app-based security codes. I have used the RSA-based key fobs since I got my account at E*Trade. These fobs generate a random RSA access code needed to log-in to my account thus adding to account security. I was quite happy to see that
You can't use VIP Access desktop app on non-mobile devices like my Macbook or MacPro. I hope that is fixed soon.
Watch lists are not implemented well. We should be able to delete the "Investments to Watch" and "Device Watch List" if we want. Also, you should be able to order the stocks by clicking the header columns on the iPad. The default watch list on the iPad can't be set. I still can't use E*Trade 360 to create a new watch list.
The E*Trade 360 screen on the web-based site is E*Trade's attempt to deliver a more useful interface to its users. The interface can be tailored by each user so that relevant information can be placed where it is desired. However, I still get a lot of timeout issues when using this.
E*Trade Communities: One of the worst things E*Trade has put out there for their users. The organization is horrible and non-customizable. We should be able to arrange the screen in a manner similar to E*Trade 360. We should be able to easily see specific discussion boards and mute others. Honestly, I have no desire to partake in penny stocks, and find a lot of users in the penny boards are just tossing out pump-and-dump-type topics. No thanks. In all honesty E*Trade should eliminate those discussions all-together. See StockTwits for an example of keeping trading focused on bigger companies and bigger issues. I am not saying that all penny-valued stocks are bad or worthless. But the pump-and-dump schemes that follow penny stocks, and the discussions that follow them are best left for Yahoo.
There is no way that you can get notifications on education events as they are announced the E*Trade Education section on the web-based site.
There is no way that you can get notifications on education events as they are announced the E*Trade Education section on the web-based site.
One other item - I always buy and sell round number lots; e.g., 1000 shares, 10500 shares, 800 shares, etc. But, I also tend to want to purchase a general dollar amount; e.g., $20,000 of company XYZ. I would love to be able to enter the maximum amount I want to invest; e.g., $20,000, and have E*Trade give the options to buy that exact amount of shares, or show options to buy a lot rounded down to the nearest share, 10 shares, 100 shares, etc. For example, I want to invest up to $20,000 in ETFC (which is E*Trade's trading symbol for those that didn't know) trading at $8.73/share. The trading screen should give me the option to purchase (a) 2290.9507 shares, (b) 2290 shares, (c) 2250 shares, or (d) 2200 shares. This gives me the quick ability to control the amount invested as well as the number of shares I buy.
